COMFORT ZONE

His breakout season behind him, Padres slugger Headley looking for the follow-through

“I’ve done it. Now I know it’s not just a pipe dream where I hope things come together. It has come together.”

As evidenced by the fact that he was a finalist for the MVP award that went to San Francisco’s Buster Posey, Headley’s lifted himself into a different strata of player, one the whole country knows about.

Another season like 2012 and Headley could become the hottest of properties, a switch-hitting Silver Slugger who’s also the majors’ top fielder at the hot corner, not to mention a year away from free agency. (See Gonzalez, comma, Adrian.)

As it is, Headley’s financial reward for his breakthrough season was a one-year contract for $8.57 million, a raise of roughly $5 million and still far below what he could get on an open market. Neither he nor the team are talking yet of a contract that would lock him into the Padres for many years to come. Everybody’s in wait-and-see mode.

The Padres already are doing Headley — and themselves — a favor with the shaving of the outfield dimensions at Petco Park this winter. By his own admission, Headley was among the hitters who let the exasperation of watching home run balls turn to long outs affect their hitting. That the previous dimensions worked mostly against left-handed power really hit home with Headley, a vast majority of whose career homers have come batting lefty, a majority of those coming on the road.

“For so long, you wanted to ignore it, but it was a double-edged sword,” said Headley. “You’re criticized if you said anything; you’re whining. You’re ridiculed because you’re not hitting for power. All I can say is, the (shorter) fences aren’t going to change the atmosphere of the ballpark, which is still going to lean more toward pitchers.

“I am excited it’s being addressed, but I don’t think it will have the impact that a lot of people think it will have, changing it to a hitters’ ballpark or anything like that. Personally, I think it will result in more doubles because of the way the outfielders have to play it now. But if you hit a ball to that (right) side of the field, and you really hit it, it should be a home run.”